Christoph T. Weidemann
Cognitive processes, such as those involved in perception, memory
and decision making, are highly context dependent. Previous
experiences, expectations, and goals all shape how sensory input is
transformed into percepts, how memories are stored and retrieved
and how available information is evaluated to guide behavior. This
feature of human information processing is fascinatingly pervasive
and can be easily experienced, especially in cases when it leads to
errors. For example, it is often difficult to identify a familiar
face outside of its usual context ("the butcher on the
bus" phenomenon) and the the erroneous repetition of written
words often goes unnoticed ("repetition blindness"; an
example is embedded in this very sentence). Despite leading to
errors in some cases, the integration of context with current
processing is integral to cognition because it constitutes the
foundation for learning and adaptive behavior. My research
investigates how context shapes human information processing. To
this end I measure accuracy and speed of overt behavior as well as
activity in the human brain as assessed with tools such as
electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and
direct recordings from electrodes that are implanted in the brains
of neurosurgery patients. A particular emphasis of my work is on
the development of precise theoretical accounts (mathematical
models) of cognitive processes that are informed and constrained by
measured overt behavior and brain activity.
- March, 2010 – present:
- Lecturer – Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology ,
Swansea University, Wales, UK
- October, 2006 – March, 2010:
- Post-doctoral research fellow at the Computational Memory Lab ,
Department of Psychology,
University of Pennsylvania, USA; supervisor: Prof. Michael J. Kahana
- August, 2006:
- PhD in psychology and cognitive science (minor in neuroscience).
Indiana University, Bloomington, USA; adviser: Prof. Richard M. Shiffrin
- Spring & Summer, 2004:
- Pre-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition ,
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- September, 2002:
- Diplom (German degree similar to MS/MA/MSc) in psychology.
University of Bonn, Germany
(my profile on Google Scholar )
I had to transfer the copyright for some of the
articles listed below to the publishers of the journals in which they
appeared. However, I am allowed to distribute copies to individuals
for personal and/or research use. Your click on any of the links below
constitutes your request to me for a personal copy of the linked
article. A detailed copyright notice appears in the articles. Nature's
web debates published an interesting relevant article by Richard
titled "Science must `push
copyright aside´" .
Burns, E. J., Tree, J. J., & Weidemann,
C. T. (2014). Recognition Memory in Developmental
Prosopagnosia: Electrophysiological Evidence for Abnormal
Routes to Face Recognition. Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience, 8, 622.
Ramayya, A. G., Zaghloul, K. A., Weidemann, C. T., Baltuch,
G. H. & Kahana, M. J. (2014). Electrophysiological
evidence for functionally distinct neuronal populations in the
human substantia nigra. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,
Jacobs, J., Weidemann, C. T., Miller, J. F., Solway, A.,
Burke, J., Wei, X.-X., Suthana, N., Sperling, M., Sharan,
A. D., Fried, I., & Kahana, M. J. (2013). Direct
recordings of grid-like neuronal activity in human spatial
navigation. Nature Neuroscience, 16, 1188–1190.
- Leighton, I. D., Hiemstra, J. F., &
Weidemann, C. T. (2013). Recognition of micro-scale
deformation structures in glacial sediments — pattern
perception, observer bias and the influence of experience.
Boreas, 42, 463–469.
- Blagrove M., Fouquet N. C., Baird A. L.,
Pace-Schott E. F., Davies A. C., Neuschaffer J. L.,
Henley-Einion J. A., Weidemann C. T., Thome J., McNamara P.,
& Turnbull O. H. (2012). Association of salivary-assessed
oxytocin and cortisol levels with time of night and sleep
stage. Journal of Neural
Transmission, 119, 1223–1232.
- Miller, J. F., Weidemann, C. T., &
Kahana, M. J. (2012). Recall termination in free recall.
Memory & Cognition, 40, 540–550.
Zaghloul, K. A., Weidemann, C. T., Lega,
B. C., Jaggi, J. L., Baltuch, G. H., & Kahana,
M. J. (2012). Neuronal activity in the human subthalamic
nucleus encodes decision conflict during action selection.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 2453–2460.
- Mueller, S. T. & Weidemann,
C. T. (2012). Alphabetic Letter Identification: Effects of
perceivability, similarity, and bias.
Acta Psychologica, 139, 19–37.
- Davelaar, E. J., Tian, X., Weidemann, C. T.,
& Huber, D. E. (2011). A Habituation Account of Change
Detection in same/different judgments. Cognitive,
Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience,
- Zaghloul, K. A., Blanco, J. A., Weidemann,
C. T., McGill, K., Jaggi, J. L., Baltuch, G. H., &
Kahana, M. J. (2009). Human substantia nigra neurons encode
unexpected financial rewards. Science, 323,
- Weidemann, C. T., Mollison M. V., &
Kahana, M. J. (2009). Electrophysiological correlates of
high-level perception during spatial
navigation. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 16,
- Weidemann, C. T. & Mueller,
S. T. (2008). Decision noise may mask criterion shifts: Reply
to Balakrishnan and MacDonald (2008).
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15, 1031–1034.
- Mueller, S. T. & Weidemann,
C. T. (2008). Decision noise: An explanation for observed
violations of Signal Detection Theory.
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15, 465–494.
- Weidemann, C. T., Huber, D. E., &
Shiffrin, R. M. (2008). Prime diagnosticity in short-term
repetition priming: Is primed evidence discounted, even when
it reliably indicates the correct answer?
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 257–281.
Selected colleagues and collaborators:
- David E. Huber: Professor at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
- Michael J. Kahana:
Professor at the Psychology Department, University of
- Shane T. Mueller: Assistant professor at
Michigan Technological University, USA
- Sean M. Polyn: Consummate scientician
Assistant professor at the Department of Psychology,
Vanderbilt University, USA
- Amanda Q. X. Nio: Research assistant at the Biomedical
Engineering Department, Kings College, London, UK
- Adam N. Sanborn:
Associate professor at the Department of Psychology, The
University of Warwick, UK
- Per B. Sederberg: Assistant professor at the
Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, USA
- Richard M. Shiffrin:
Professor at the Department of Psychological and Brain
Sciences, Indiana University, USA
Great software for science:
Below I am posting links to a few selected
programs (not written by me) that I find particularly useful for
scientific work. All programs linked below are free in the sense that
anyone may download, install, use, modify, and re-distribute them
(detailed information can be found on the respective websites linked
below). This freedom is particularly valuable for scientific work,
because it allows the free sharing of one's work with collaborators,
colleagues, students, or anyone else without requiring permission of
the copyright holder of the associated program. All the programs
linked below run on a variety of platforms such as Linux, Windows, and
- The Python programming language
- A nice object
oriented programming language, well suited for scientific
computing. Various libraries cover a wide range of possibly
Of particular interest are
Substantial documentation is available on the Python documentation website and the websites of the respective libraries.
- The R project for statistical computing
- A powerful
software environment for statistical computing and graphics.
Relevant related software includes
- A high-quality document preparation and
typesetting system optimized for technical and scientific
documents. Also useful for creating presentations and posters.
- A great file synchronizer. Not directly science related, but useful for anybody who regularly uses more than one computer and wants to keep them synchronized.